Yahoo! is asking Americans how September 11 changed them. Below is an account from a reader.
Tuesday started like any other for me. I woke up with my husband and helped make sure he got ready for work. Once he left I went back to bed to catch a little more sleep until our one year old daughter woke up for the day. Around 8:50 A.M. I received a call from my husband. He sounded frantic. He was yelling at me to get up and turn on the T.V. I asked him what channel, and he said it didn’t matter. He told me to just get up and turn on the T.V., and he would call me back in a couple minutes. Our daughter was still sleeping so I groggily stumbled out of bed.
I was still trying to wipe the sleep out of my eyes when I got to the living room and picked up the remote. I had no idea what he was talking about, or what could be so important. All I could think of was there was some kind of accident, and it must have been pretty bad, near his work that would make it on the news. Little did I know how much worse it really was.
[Your story: How has September 11 changed you?]
I live in Michigan. In 2001 I was married and living in Clinton Township, which is located just ten minutes from Selfridge Air National Guard Base. My husband’s work was literally just across the street from the west border of the base. You could see the fence with the barbed wire on top from the parking lot of his building. Past the fence and a very thick strip of trees is the air field. On any normal day, training exercises took fighter jets and Chinook helicopters across Oakland and Macomb counties. I have lived in these two counties my entire life. On September 11, 2001 things were different. Those brave Pilots were called out on a real mission here within our borders.
As I turned the T.V. on, my mouth dropped in astonishment. The first tower of the World Trade Center was on fire. I stood dumbfounded trying to figure out what everyone was talking about. It took a minute to flip through a couple channels to get the full story. I had never heard reporters so shaken up before. Voices wavered and pitches rose, it became very clear, quickly, just how devastating the situation was.
I stood in front of our entertainment center in shock, watching the tower burn, watching New York civilians’ faces and listening to everyone’s commentary on what could have possibly happened. We all thought this was a horrible accident until we saw the second plane hit the other tower. I covered my mouth and a tear rolled down my cheek. It only took a moment to realize this was an attack.
My husband and I met in the Army Reserves just two years earlier. I was a newly trained MP and he had already served on active duty during Desert Storm as a Patriot Missile operator. Just after the second tower was struck he called again. We both felt the same. We agreed that if either of us were called upon to go to war, we’d go in a heartbeat. There wasn’t even a moment’s hesitation for either of us. I told him I loved him and asked him to keep me informed if he heard anything.
My thoughts were rotating from horror, to sadness, to anger. I paused for a brief moment. I heard my daughter wake up and start to move around in her crib. I went and picked her up and just held her while I stood in shock watching everything unfold. I fed her and then continued to hold and rock her. My thoughts about what my job was changed when I had my daughter. I was no longer just in the mindset of a soldier wanting to do her duty. I now had a parent’s mindset that I would do anything to protect her first.
From the time I started watching I started praying. I prayed for those inside the buildings, the firefighters fighting the blaze, the passengers on those planes, the police officers on the ground trying to keep order, and I also prayed for the soldiers I knew would be going to war after this. My heart has always believed in faith, loyalty, truth, courage, honor and valor. Protecting the weak and the helpless and fighting for the welfare of all. Those were the reasons I joined the Army in the first place. I wanted to defend my country and those who needed our help. I never thought we’d ever be attacked at home. Maybe we were complacent, maybe we were arrogant, but those people didn’t deserve to die.
When I heard about the Pentagon my anger grew. All I could think of was “what brought this on. What did we possibly do to deserve this?” Later as the towers fell, my tears flowed. My heart broke for all the people who didn’t get the chance to go home that day and kiss their loved ones. I put her in her playpen, went back to standing in front of the T.V. and I felt helpless. I wanted to do something to help. I wanted to get even. I wanted to protect people. I wanted to save lives. Instead I was merely a bystander.
When I heard about United flight 93 and the passengers that took back the plane from the hijackers, a wave of pride swept over me, and then the sadness returned. Those brave people were heroes. How many lives did they save by giving their own? I felt horrible. I knew I was lucky. My family and friends weren’t aboard any of those flights or in any of those buildings. How many people weren’t as lucky? Thousands.
I was never called to serve overseas. I stayed home and raised my daughter. My husband was never called either. I do know people who went to Afghanistan, and thankfully they returned home safely. But for all those who didn’t make it home on that day or since then, they will always and forever be in my heart and prayers.